LaFleur Enjoys Deputy Chief position

Gerard LaFleur has settled into his position as Deputy Chief for the Seekonk Police Department.

LaFleur, 51, has been with the department for 24 years. The North Attleboro native joined in 1991 as a part-time dispatcher. He later became a Special Police Officer in 2000 and worked his way up the ranks to Lieutenant. In addition, LaFleur served as a call firefighter. He obtained his EMT certification when he was 18 and worked for a private ambulance service for nine years.

LaFleur was promoted to Deputy Chief in April 2023 and serves under Chief David Enos.

“We’ve worked together for over 20 years probably,” LaFleur noted. “I think he has a much better personality for that type of position than I do. I work better in this position.”

Law enforcement has been in LaFleur’s blood from a very young age.

“I’ve always liked it,” he explained. “I had an uncle that was a Police Officer in town. I used to spend a fair amount of time with him. I moved in with my grandparents once I graduated high school.”

LaFleur has learned to keep an open mind when listening to citizen’s complaints: “There’s always three sides to the story: one side, the other person’s side, and what actually happened. Perception is important.”

LaFleur notes how seeing different aspects of a situation has impacted his own way of seeing the world: “When you’re a young officer, you want to go out and do all the action stuff. You don’t want to deal with the regular complaints, such as speeding, noisy neighbors, drug dealers, etc. As you get older, you realize that this is the stuff that really matters to the citizens. I guess that’s a form of wisdom that you get with life.”

LaFleur enjoys the administrative aspect of his position but misses being able to go out on calls: “I’m there in case the (responding officers) need some help with something.”

LaFleur says staffing remains a big issue for not only Seekonk but for police departments all across the country. The process to get an officer hired and trained can be lengthy and expensive. One problem is there are far fewer applicants than 30 years ago.

“The attitude has changed. When I started, I had to wait several years to get a full-time job so there was no way I was going to let anything happen once I got my opportunity. Pretty much no matter how bad things got I was going to stick through it.”

Many new officers decide the job isn’t the right fit for them and quit, or they find a higher-paying job in another community. Seekonk allows officers to transfer to police departments in other towns.

“That’s tough for us when we just spent a year to train someone new, it costs in excess of $35,000,” LaFleur noted.

LaFleur said the expectations in the Police Department have evolved through the years, going from a militaristic type of environment to one allowing for more collaboration: “The difficulty in getting people and maintaining people has caused the culture to change to be more receptive and open to continuing newer ideas. We need to change the way that we’ve done (things) just to try to retain people.”

LaFleur has his own philosophy regarding police work: “I enjoy trying to do problem-solving, finding things that need to be addressed and finding ways of getting them taken care of. I like the challenge of trying to look outside the box.”